Sep 8, 2009

Microsoft teaches Best Buy employees how to troll Linux users

Recently, Microsoft named the Linux distributors Red Hat and Canonical as competitors to its Windows client business in its annual filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The move is an acknowledgment of the first viable competition from Linux to Microsoft's Windows client business, due mainly to the use of Linux on netbooks, which are rising in prominence as alternatives to full-sized notebooks.

I'm sure everyone agrees that this acknowledgment is a good thing. Microsoft seeing Linux as a serious competitor, means that Linux is moving forward, becoming more mainstream and that we're stealing market share from the big boy. But the latest PR material from Microsoft does not fall under this category. The goal is to teach Best Buy employees that Windows 7 beats Linux in every category imaginable. Microsoft can do this because they are a huge influential company with a massive market share.

The fact that Microsoft finds this type of "training material" necessary is again kind of an acknowledgment, but the majority of the statements are, to say the least, inaccurate. Reading the text on the slides for this presentation really made me feel like they are hitting us below the waist. Enjoy...

Hum, Microsoft claims something "Windows updates are easier" without properly justifying it. Ubuntu has many updates because all software (except rare exception)goes through aptitude, unlike "Windows Updates" which simply update Microsoft's programs. On Windows you have to run several updaters (Windows Update, Adobe update, Firefox update, ... ) to update your system, and it most of cases there is no automatic updates, so users have to do everything by themselves. But on Ubuntu you do all in one go (even proprietary software such as Google Earth, Skype, Opera if you use Medibuntu).

I especially hate this slide... "It can be unclear to users whether or not software updates need to be applied immediately or are optional".

Ubuntu's Update Manager has four headings: "Important Security Updates", "Recommended Updates", "Distribution Updates" and "Proposed Updates" (only appears if you have the Proposed repository active). Isn't it obvious that if it's an Important Security Update, that it's important? That a recommended update is recommended? Anything else is not important.